Does Visitors Insurance Cover Hospitalization?
Visitors insurance is an extremely helpful and beneficial type of short-term medical insurance plan that a visitor to the U.S. can purchase for their travels. A visitor from abroad may not be aware of just how expensive medical care is in the United States. Without proper coverage, medical costs can quickly surpass thousands of dollars.
When purchasing a visitors insurance plan, one of your top concerns may be whether or not visitors insurance covers hospitalization, as typically hospitalization is needed in emergencies and can be costly depending on the severity of the injury or illness and length of stay.
In this article, we’ll discuss whether or not hospitalization, urgent care, and emergency room costs are covered by visitors insurance plans and other important factors to keep in mind when it comes to short-term travel medical insurance coverage.
Does Visitors Insurance Cover Hospitalization?
Most comprehensive and limited coverage visitors insurance plans do cover hospitalization for a new illness or injury when ordered by an authorized physician that hospitalization is necessary. So yes, most visitors insurance plans do cover hospitalization, urgent care, and emergency room visits for eligible expenses under certain conditions.
It is important to note, however, that pre-existing conditions are often excluded from visitors insurance plans. So if your hospitalization is necessary for an illness or injury that was pre-existing prior to the start date of your visitors insurance plan, this would fall under a pre-existing condition exclusion and would not be covered. Hospitalization coverage is only for new illnesses and injuries which have occurred after the start date of your visitors insurance policy, and for which an authorized physician writes off that hospitalization is necessary.
There are a few visitors insurance plans available with certain eligibility that can cover for the worsening of pre-existing conditions should your symptoms worsen while you are traveling outside of your home country. For some travelers with pre-existing conditions, coverage for emergencies related to pre-existing conditions can be a main concern. Learn more about pre-existing condition coverage and available plans.
How Do Visitors Insurance Plans Cover Hospitalization?
Coverage for hospitalization costs vary from plan to plan, but typically eligible costs are covered up to the policy maximum under comprehensive plans and up to the specified dollar amount per day, and often a limited number of total days, under limited coverage plans. Learn more about the differences between limited and comprehensive visitors insurance plans.
For visitors to the U.S. who want to protect themselves in the event that they require hospitalization during their travels, it is highly recommended to choose a comprehensive visitors insurance plan. These plans offer better monetary protection and less out-of-pocket costs than a limited visitors insurance coverage plan.
Recommended Comprehensive Visitors Insurance Plans
If you’re looking for a comprehensive visitors insurance plan for your travels to the U.S., we recommend the following plans:
While most comprehensive visitors insurance plans do cover eligible hospitalization costs under certain conditions for new illnesses and injuries, it is always a good idea to closely review a plan’s description of coverage to fully understand coverage details and any exclusions to be aware of to protect yourself when receiving medical care in the United States.
